The False Possessive

[Matthew Gordon]

"Disappointed" could only be a participle and not an adjective (modified by
"very")?


On 3/4/09 1:00 PM, "Jonathan Lighter" <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM> wrote:

> Nope.  F for the day.
>
> JL
>
> On Wed, Mar 4, 2009 at 1:56 PM, Joel S. Berson <Berson at att.net> wrote:
>
>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>> -----------------------
>> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>> Poster:       "Joel S. Berson" <Berson at ATT.NET>
>> Subject:      Re: The False Possessive
>>
>> -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
>> --
>>
>> An inanimate object cannot disappoint someone?
>>
>> Joel
>>
>> At 3/4/2009 01:50 PM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
>>> The theory of the false possessive holds that inanimate things cannot
>>> logically "possess" anything.  Of course, tradition allows us to use the
>> few
>>> idiomatic exceptions like "a day's wage."  It is a corruption we must
>>> unfortunately live with.
>>>
>>> BRAIN-TEASER:
>>>
>>> Any English professor of 1899 could see what's wrong with this sentence.
>>> Can you?
>>>
>>> "I was very disappointed."
>>>
>>> JL
>>>
>>> On Wed, Mar 4, 2009 at 12:56 PM, Baker, John <JMB at stradley.com> wrote:
>>>
>>>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
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>>>> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>>>> Poster:       "Baker, John" <JMB at STRADLEY.COM>
>>>> Subject:      The False Possessive
>>>>
>>>>
>>>
>> -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
>> --
>>>>
>>>>        In the midst of Jon's eloquent and insightful posts, I was
>>>> struck by his rhetorical question, "Who today follows the
>>>> nineteenth-century dictum to 'avoid the false possessive'?"  Partly
>> this
>>>> was because I had never actually heard of the false possessive.
>>>> Predictably, there is somebody who follows (or purports to follow) that
>>>> dictum.  As it turns out, it's The Economist, which says in its Style
>>>> Guide,
>>>> http://www.economist.com/research/styleGuide/index.cfm?page=673933:
>>>> "And avoid the false possessive: London's Heathrow Airport."  The
>>>> Economist does not bother to explain exactly why this should be
>> avoided.
>>>>
>>>>        MWDEU calls this "genitive with inanimate nouns" (on page 475)
>>>> and, of course, says it is perfectly standard.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>  John Baker
>>>>
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>>>>
>>>
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>
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